Good Luck Mine

Also known as	Goodluck Mine
Location	Middleton Wood, Via Gellia, near Wirksworth, Derbyshire — 53.1059, -1.5996 (approximate)
Commodities	Lead, Barite, Fluorspar
Type	Metal
Worked	Adit begun 25 October 1830–1952
Operators	John Alsop (1830–1840)
Status	Researched

Overview

A small Derbyshire lead mine that never lived up to its name — its ore was always thin — and whose real distinction came a century later, when the landowner who blew its entrance shut in the 1950s unwittingly sealed in place one of the most completely preserved small early-19th-century lead mines left in England.

History

John Alsop, a local entrepreneur, began driving the adit at Good Luck on 25 October 1830, at the end of the farming season, consolidating several smaller existing workings in the Middleton flats into one operation. The adit first struck the Silver Eye Vein, and about a year later, in 1831, reached the vein that gave the mine its name — the Good Luck Vein, a run of galena in a barite gangue that despite its promising discovery was thin and never especially productive. The mine was essentially worked out by 1840, though intermittent working continued for decades afterwards: the Mining Record Office recorded 1.2 tons of lead ore raised between 1872 and 1882, and the old spoil dumps were reworked in the 1920s, with some further extraction continuing until 1952. Work finally stopped that year, and the landowner had the entrance blown in shortly afterwards, sealing the mine until a group of enthusiasts began restoration work in 1972. Two decades of careful clearance and safety work followed, and the Mines Inspectorate approved the site for supervised visitor access in 2007. It is now run by the Good Luck Mine Preservation Club, opening to the public on the first Sunday of most months and to pre-booked groups, and is recognised as an unusually complete and authentic example of a small early-19th-century Derbyshire lead mine — original tubs, tools, ore chutes and a hand-built, 11-inch gauge wrought-iron tramway all survive largely as the last miners left them.

Geology

The mine lies beneath the Lower Matlock Lava, working veins hosted in the Peak District's Carboniferous limestone. The Good Luck Vein carried granular galena — lead sulphide, at around 5 per cent by the ore's own composition — in a gangue of barite, and never exceeded about 50 centimetres in width, averaging closer to 25; secondary minerals including fluorite, azurite and malachite were also found in small quantities alongside the lead ore.

Workings

The main adit runs about 90 metres through limestone to reach the veins, and was fitted soon after driving began with a narrow, 11-inch gauge tramway using hand-rolled wrought-iron rail, which survives essentially intact today. Ore was moved along it in small tubs to chutes at the surface. Since restoration began, a second entrance has been opened from a former shaft, and sections of two neighbouring mines can now also be explored from within the Good Luck workings.

Closure

Working ceased in 1952 and the entrance was deliberately blown in by the landowner shortly afterwards, sealing the mine until restoration began in 1972.

What remains

Reopened to supervised visitors since 2007, Good Luck is maintained by a dedicated preservation club as a working example of 19th-century mining practice rather than a sanitised show mine: there are no concrete paths or bulkhead lighting, and original stonework, tools, ore chutes and the wrought-iron tramway survive in place. It is gated and securely locked outside organised visits.

Surface building remains, spoil, and the gated mine entrance in Middleton Wood.

Redevelopment

None — preserved and actively maintained by the Good Luck Mine Preservation Club as a heritage site with restricted public access.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

John Alsop began the adit on 25 October 1830; it struck the Silver Eye Vein and, about a year later, the Good Luck Vein itself. ¹
The Good Luck Vein carried granular galena at around 5 per cent in a barite gangue, never exceeding about 50 cm wide and averaging nearer 25, with fluorite, azurite and malachite also present in small quantities. ¹
An 11-inch gauge wrought-iron tramway, hand-rolled and installed soon after the adit was driven, survives essentially intact within the mine. ¹
The mine was essentially worked out by 1840, though intermittent working continued, with 1.2 tons of ore recorded 1872-82 and further extraction from reworked spoil through the 1920s and up to 1952. ¹
Work ceased in 1952 and the landowner had the entrance blown in shortly afterwards. ¹
Restoration work began in 1972, and the Mines Inspectorate approved the site for supervised visitor access in 2007; it is now maintained by the Good Luck Mine Preservation Club with monthly public openings. ²